Noise Levels in Golden Hills, CA | Find Quiet Neighborhoods With Our Sound Map
51 dBA
Average noise across Golden Hills
Quiet office
1,464
Residents above the EPA 55 dBA threshold
18% of Golden Hills residents
84 dBA
Loudest residential point
Food blender at arm’s length
This map shows modeled outdoor noise across Golden Hills at 100-meter resolution, combining road, aviation, and rail sources. Green areas measure below 45 dBA. Orange and red exceed the EPA's 55 dBA outdoor threshold linked to long-term health effects. Use the layer toggles to view each source on its own or all together.
What the numbers sound like
- 30 dBAWhisper
- 40 dBASoft rainfall
- 45 dBAQuiet suburban street at night
- 50 dBAQuiet office
- 55 dBAEPA outdoor threshold: light traffic 100 ft away
- 60 dBANormal conversation an arm's length away
- 65 dBABusy restaurant
- 70 dBAHighway traffic 50 ft away
- 80 dBACity bus interior
Population Above the EPA Outdoor Threshold
The EPA's 55 dBA outdoor reference level is a common benchmark for residential noise exposure, especially for activity interference, annoyance, and long-term community noise concerns. About 1,464 Golden Hills residents, or 17.7%, live above that level. By land area, 15.1% of Golden Hills is above 55 dBA.
84.9% below 55 dBA
15.1% above 55 dBA
See how noise in Golden Hills compares to similar-sized cities.
Noise by Part of Golden Hills
Average noise levels for Golden Hills residents, grouped by direction from the center of Golden Hills. The highest population-weighted average is in southeastern Golden Hills; the lowest is in southwestern Golden Hills, where just 6% of residents live in blocks above the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, a fifth of the share in the loudest section.
Southeastern Golden Hills
61.6 dBA · Loud
Busy restaurant
Northeastern Golden Hills
60.7 dBA · Loud
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
Southern Golden Hills
54.2 dBA · Moderate-loud
Quiet office to normal conversation
Western Golden Hills
50.3 dBA · Moderate
Quiet office
Southwestern Golden Hills
49.3 dBA · Mostly quiet
Quiet office
To the human ear, noise in southeastern Golden Hills sounds about 135% louder than in southwestern Golden Hills, a 12.3 dBA gap. Every 10 dBA roughly doubles perceived loudness. Within any of these directions, two homes a quarter mile apart can still differ by 10 or more dBA depending on how close they sit to a major highway.
How far back from do you need to be?
produces an estimated 84 dBA at its loudest centerline points. Noise drops logarithmically with distance, with the exact rate depending on what's between you and the road. Tree cover, walls, terrain, and pavement type all matter. At roughly a quarter mile back, traffic fades into the noise level of a quiet suburban street at night.
At source
84 dBA
Food blender at arm’s length
165 ft
70 dBA
Highway traffic 50 ft away
330 ft
62 dBA
Busy restaurant
660 ft
54 dBA
Quiet office to normal conversation
¼ mile
46 dBA
Quiet suburban street at night
½ mile
38 dBA
Soft rainfall
Calculated from the model's calibrated attenuation formula. About 2% of Golden Hills sits under tree canopy (much lighter than most cities) and roughly 13% is impervious surface like pavement and rooftops. Both are folded into the per-place decay rate above. Heavier canopy pulls noise down faster with distance; impervious surfaces slow the drop.
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Rail Noise
Active freight rail runs through parts of Golden Hills. For most blocks the rail-only contribution is small. Combined road-plus-rail noise rarely exceeds road noise on its own. The exceptions are the handful of blocks within roughly a quarter mile of the right-of-way during pass-through hours.
Use the Rail toggle on the map above to isolate rail's contribution from road and aviation.
How Noise Is Distributed Across Golden Hills
The bar chart below shows the share of Golden Hills residents in each noise band. About 89% of residents live below the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, and roughly 3% live in blocks above 60 dBA. Long-term exposure in that range is linked to elevated stress hormones and cardiovascular risk.
How Golden Hills Compares
Golden Hills sits the highest among the peer group. Below: how Golden Hills's average outdoor noise and share of residents above the EPA threshold compare with Bear Valley Springs, Tehachapi, Lamont, and California City.
Average noise level (dBA)
Golden Hills's 50.8 dBA pop-weighted average is the highest among the peer group. California as a whole averages 54.0 dBA and the U.S. averages 52.0 dBA. Both are lower than Golden Hills because most of either area is rural land away from major roads.
Share of residents above 55 dBA
About 17.7% of Golden Hills residents live in blocks where outdoor levels exceed the EPA's 55 dBA threshold. That's in the middle of its peer group. Measured by land area instead, 15.1% of Golden Hills's footprint sits above 55 dBA, against a California average of 36.0% and a national average of 28.1%.
What This Means if You're Moving to Golden Hills
- Distance from highways matters more than the neighborhood name. Two homes in the same zip code can differ by 20 dBA if one sits 100 meters from and the other 500 meters away. The model captures this at 100-meter resolution, so noise exposure changes block by block.
- Tree canopy can help reduce modeled noise exposure. Roughly 2% of Golden Hills is under tree cover (much lighter than most cities), and the dominant land cover is low-density developed open space. Both are measured from federal USDA Forest Service and USGS satellite imagery at 30-meter resolution. Streets with 60% or higher canopy show 3 to 5 dBA lower noise than comparable streets with bare ground or pavement, which is why the per-place decay rate above already accounts for it.
